Port advisory panel to get new members next week

OLYMPIA - The Port of Olympia commission will appoint four new members and three alternates to its advisory committee Monday night.

The appointments were discussed at the port’s relatively new Thursday meetings, which give the commission extra time to discuss commission meeting agenda items. The committee is a group of volunteers who provide input to the commission about port issues.

The four new members and three alternates were not disclosed at Thursday’s meeting, although commissioner Jeff Davis, who was involved in the interview process, said he was pleased with the quality of the candidates. Davis, port Executive Director Ed Galligan and outgoing port advisory committee chairwoman Lisa Cosmillo interviewed the candidates.

Cosmillo, who has two years left on her advisory committee term, said the group interviewed eight candidates over four days. They spent about 30 minutes with each candidate, she said.

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“We were trying to get a read on what their interests were and who they were,” Cosmillo said. They also made an effort to make sure the committee members came from different areas of the county, she said.

“We want to make sure we are the public’s point of view,” Cosmillo said.

Cosmillo is a commercial real estate broker. The committee members serve as volunteers; the incoming chairman is Riley Moore, an associate professor of economics at Saint Martin’s University. Moore has been a committee member for two years, he said. The committee tries to meet at least once a month, Moore said.

Davis said at Thursday’s meeting that the commission should be prepared to map out both long-term and short-term projects for the committee to study, including NorthPoint.

NorthPoint is a 2.4-acre parcel on the north tip of the port peninsula that has been identified for future development. The port has been working with MJR Development of Kirkland in coming up with three development proposals for the property. They are a three-story hotel with an adjacent restaurant; a three-story, mixed-use office building with an adjacent restaurant; and a hotel and restaurant combined into one building that would be set back farther from the waterfront than what’s spelled out under the other proposals. That project would add more landscaping and a larger public area along the waterfront.

Davis offered no specifics as to why he’d like the port’s advisory committee to study NorthPoint, although in the past he has questioned the wisdom of taking on two developments at the same time, such as the East Bay project and NorthPoint. Some residents also have raised concerns about sea-level rise at NorthPoint.